below the level of this excavation it is connected to the front of the cervix uteri and the upper part of the anterior wall of the vagina by areolar tissue. When the bladder is empty the uterus rests upon its superior surface. The female bladder is said by some to be more capacious than that of the male, but probably the opposite is the case.

Ligaments.The bladder is connected to the pelvic wall by the fascia endopelvina. In front this fascial attachment is strengthened by a few muscular fibers, the Pubovesicales, which extend from the back of the pubic bones to the front of the bladder; behind, other muscular fibers run from the fundus of the bladder to the sides of the rectum, in the sacrogenital folds, and constitute the Rectovesicales.

The vertex of the bladder is joined to the umbilicus by the remains of the urachus which forms the middle umbilical ligament, a fibromuscular cord, broad at its attachment to the bladder but narrowing as it ascends.

From the superior surface of the bladder the peritoneum is carried off in a series of folds which are sometimes termed the false ligaments of the bladder. Anteriorly there are three folds: the middle umbilical fold on the middle umbilical ligament, and two lateral umbilical folds on the obliterated hypogastric arteries. The reflections of the peritoneum on to the side walls of the pelvis form the lateral false ligaments, while the sacrogenital folds constitute posterior false ligaments.

Interior of the Bladder (Fig. 1140).The mucous membrane lining the bladder is, over the greater part of the viscus, loosely attached to the muscular coat, and appears wrinkled or folded when the bladder is contracted: in the distended condition of the bladder the folds are effaced. Over a small triangular area, termed the trigonum vesicæ, immediately above and behind the internal orifice of the urethra, the mucous membrane is firmly bound to the muscular coat, and is always smooth.